No waranty for Leaf TSB

Some help needed! I am past being able to claim the TSB with the dealer. I have searched and found no clear answer for my question.

I thought about doing 5100's and an AAL, but then I realized with the already weak 3 leaf pack on the rear the AAL will not help with load carrying capability. Someone correct me if I am wrong, I would need to upgrade the rear leafs completely with new for stronger leafs. Would I be able to get lift out of a new pack with say 5 leafs, and 5100 up front to level it out?

Also, I was reading aboput the Ready Lift SST I think it is called. Something about the downward travel of this set up is bad. I understand how it is bad. Wouldn't the 5100's have the same effect or not. I am some what confussed know after reading the extreme wealth of information on here. Would I need to do front and rear shocks together or can the rears wait a bit, duwe to the fact that the dealer just installed new shocks before I bought the truck.

Sorry about the post didn't realized I had this many questions.

 

The spings aren't necessarily weak they just have a low spring rate. Many of the AAL suppliers say they will increase height and spring rate. Height claim is obvious. For a spring F=RX where F is the force or in this case weight, R is the spring Rate and X is the deflection. So with a higher spring rate you will get less deflection with the same force (weight). You still can't overload your truck but theoretically it would sag less when loaded (and they do sag alot when stock). As far as ride it would probably be slightly stiffer since a stiffer spring moves less over the same bumps. Better shocks would probably help some. The rear 5100 are better than stock and i think have more travel so they match up better with a lift.

One more thing to consider. The more leafs the more progressive they are, which means the rate changs as the deflection changes. Softer with no load and stiffer as spring is compressed.

Spacer: The ready lift spacer will move the shock and spring down. The spring would still be compressed about the same, there would be more distance between the UCA and LCA. It looks like it would still ride the same but some on this forum say it doesn't. This is different than the regular spacers that will compress the spring and strecth the shock out.

The 5100 moves the springs up the shock creating a longer coil over so the result is more shock below the spring with the same result - more distance between the UCA and LCA. The spring compression probably wouldn't be too much different than the ready lift. The difference is the 5100 is supperior to the stock shock.

And lastly, if your going to buy the front 5100s, it is only about $100 more for the whole set and since you have to take off the rear shocks when you AAL there is no more work involved.

 

Correction: Actually it doesn't add more distance between the UCA and the LCA - it adds more distance between the LCA and the top mount of the coilover.

 

Leafs springs can come in a variety of different load ratings / spring rates.

You can have 5 leafs (or more) but have stock ride height. On the opposite end - you can have one leaf and get 6" of lift. It all depends on the type of spring steal/material that's used to make the leafs.

If you're worried about load carrying capacity - I would HIGHLY recommend getting a replacement leaf pak.

I wouldn't recommend getting an AAL for load carrying abilities. Why?? Leaf springs have many leafs and they all carry the same ARCH. They are designed that way to work together as a unit. AAL's have their own ARCH that does not match the leaf pak you install them in. When you install an AAL - it causes the original leaf pak to bend or arch opposite what they were designed to do. Thus - putting more stress on the entire leaf pak itself. For daily driving...or even offroading, it's not that big of a deal. But if you plan on loading up the truck often, you're only gonna stress out the leaf pak and it'll probably sag over time or start breaking leafs. IMO

 

Thanks all, that swhat I gathered somewhat. Just was not sure and had some confusion about it. Sorry for not saying thanks sooner, but I had to put my Lab down yesterday. NOT a very good day at all.

 

All I wanted to say is that I am sorry to hear about your pup.